Wisconsin native, conservative critic of everything.
"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God." ---G K Chesterton
"The only objective of Liberty is Life" --G K Chesterton
"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions" --G K Chesterton
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling

Friday, September 15, 2006

Anent the CUF Advice

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has determined that in the United States, Holy Communion is received standing and that the appropriate sign of respect is a bow of the head before the Sacrament. The Diocese of Orange is obliged to observe this norm. (Bp Tod Brown via The Cafeteria Is Closed via Matt Abbott)

Yes, the Diocese is "obliged to observe" the norm. But the Faithful are NOT--as was made clear by a directive from Rome (whose authority on the matter supercedes that of Bp. Brown.) A member of the Faithful may choose to kneel and priests are required to administer Communion (all other things being equal.)

How about this one:

The participation of women as altar servers, cantors, and lectors, is a sign of the basic equality of every baptized member of Christ: we are all called to service in light of our God given gifts. It has also been determined in 1971 by the Bishop's Committee on the Liturgy in consultation with the Vatican, that this is a legitimate liturgical practiceIn reality, "altar server" permission was granted by the Vatican MUCH later than 1971. Further, the BCL did not then, nor does it now, have the authority to license these practices.

Finally (this gets tiresome, you know)

It is the purview of the local administrator whether or not the celebrants at Masses should have the assistance of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist and the placement and furnishings of the sanctuary.But the "local administrator" (aka Bishop) is also required to faithfully follow the instructions of the Congregation for Rites. That Congregation has clearly stated that "extraordinary" ministers were to be used only if there would be "extraordinary" needs. That is to say that the PRIEST (and his assistant priests) are distributing communion--not sitting on a chair someplace.